Abbreviations xi Editor's Note xiii Introduction / Christian Høgsbjerg 1 World Revolution, 1917-1936 Preface 63 Introductory 65 1. Marxism 75 2. The Forerunners of the Third International 89 3. The War and the Russian Revolution 114 4. The Failure of the World Revolution and the Foundation of the International 135 5. Lenin and Socialism 155 6. Stalin and Socialism 174 7. Stalin Kills the 1923 Revolution 192 8. The Kulak and the British General Council 222 9. Stalin Rules the Chinese Revolution 243 10. The Platform and the Five-Year Plan 276 11. Industry and the Plan 294 12. "After Hitler, Our Turn" 306 13. The Great Retreat 349 14. The Revolution Abandoned 361 15. A Fourth International the Only Hope 387 Appendix on Sidney and Beatrice Webb's Soviet Communism 401 Notes 407 Reviews of World Revolution Selected Reviews of the Original British Edition "The Rise and Fall of the Communist International: James's New Book Reviewed by Fenner Brockway in New Leader 425 Reply from C. L. R. James 429 "Du Côté de Chez Trotsky," in New Statesman, by Raymond Postgate 430 "Lunacy or Logic? Two Views of One Book," in Controversy 432 "Communist" by J. R. Campbell 432 "Trotskyist" by Harry Wicks 434 "The Retreat of Moscow," in The Plebs, by Rowland Hill 455 "World Revolution," in International Affairs, by E. H. Carr 458 "Communism in Theory and Practice," in The Advertiser (Adelaide) 460 "The Third International," in Sydney Morning Herald 461 Selected Reviews of the Original American Edition "No Place for Communists," in the Saturday Review, by Eugene Lyons 463 "History of the CI," in New International by Joseph Carter [Joseph Friedman] 465 "World Revolution," in Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, by Harry N. Howard 469 Appendixes Appendix A. C. L. R. James, Introduction to Red Spanish Notebook: The First Six Months of the Revolution and Civil War by Mary Low and Juan Breá [1937] 471 Appendix B. C. L. R. James, "Report on Activities in the Provinces" [1938] 473 Appendix C. Extracts from the Discussions between C. L. R. James and Leon Trotsky in Coyoacán, Mexico [April 1939] 490 Index 507

"This incisive and wide-ranging work by the Trinidadian Marxist, C. L. R. James, was one of the first analyses of the rise of Stalin’s tyranny and the subordination of the needs of the international Communist movement to the needs of the Soviet state. Christian Høgsbjerg provides a marvelous introduction to James’s life and to the political context in which he wrote this remarkable work." — S. A. Smith, author of Revolution and the People in Russia and China: A Comparative History

“Published in 1937, close to the ‘Midnight in the Century’ when Hitler and Stalin dominated global politics, C. L. R. James’s World Revolution affirms the actuality of Marxism even as it confronts the degeneration of the Russian Revolution of October 1917. In telling the story of the advance and retreat of the great revolutionary wave at the end of the First World War, James displays his qualities as a theorist, historian, and writer. This new edition includes an invaluable introduction by Christian Høgsbjerg that sets World Revolution in its place in the politics of the British left in the 1930s and in James’s own rich intellectual development.” — Alex Callinicos, author of The Revolutionary Ideas of Karl Marx

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Description

Originally published in 1937, C. L. R. James's World Revolution is a pioneering Marxist analysis of the history of revolutions during the interwar period and of the fundamental conflict between Trotsky and Stalin. James, who was a leading Trotskyist activist in Britain, outlines Russia's transition from Communist revolution to a Stalinist totalitarian state bureaucracy. He also provides an account of the ideological contestations within the Communist International while examining its influence on the development of the Soviet Union and its changing role in revolutions in Spain, China, Germany, and Central Europe. Published to commemorate the centenary of the Russian Revolution, this definitive edition of World Revolution features a new introduction by Christian Høgsbjerg and includes rare archival material, selected contemporary reviews, and extracts from James's 1939 interview with Trotsky.

About The Author(s)

C. L. R. James (1901–1989), a Trinidadian historian, political activist, and writer, is the author of The Black Jacobins, an influential study of the Haitian Revolution. He is also the author of The Life of Captain Cipriani, Toussaint Louverture: The Story of the Only Successful Slave Revolt in History, and Beyond a Boundary, all also published by Duke University Press.

Christian Høgsbjerg is a historian and works for Leeds University Centre for African Studies. He is the author of C. L. R. James in Imperial Britain and the coeditor of The Black Jacobins Reader, both also published by Duke University Press.